An end to committees and no more new mayor-run councils
Jim McMahon, Minister of State for Local Government, has announced plans for “simplification” of council governance in England – abolishing the committee system and restricting councils’ ability to adopt the directly elected mayor governance model.
The minister’s language on directly elected mayors is worth citing on this: “The Government recognises there are several directly elected local council mayors currently in place, and we propose to accept the continuation of these 13 legacy directly elected council mayors, while introducing measures to ensure a more consistent approach by not facilitating the creation of new ones.”
This will pose important questions for places using the mayoral system – including London, where there are several – in advance of elections next year. Will those councils take the opportunity to have shot of what will now be known as “legacy Mayors”? Or will current, and new, incumbents, jealously guard their positions?
The focus of this post, however, is on the committee system – that unloved form of decision-making which won a temporary reprieve from abolition both in 2000 and 2011 but has now, finally, succumbed to the long arm of the modernisation agenda.
190 years and out
So 190 years after its effective start – via the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835 – and nearly 25 years after its death warrant was first mooted, Government is now finally calling time on the committee system in England. In this context it’s sad that it won’t quite live to enjoy its 200th birthday.
The ministerial statement has some strong words to say about the committee system that echo the blistering critiques to which it was subject in the 1990s. According to Government the committee system can be “unclear, duplicative, and wasteful, leading to slower, less efficient decision-making”. A number of people in the sector would disagree, and ADSO has asked for greater transparency around the evidence base informing this judgement.
Most councils still operating the committee system are small shire districts but there are a smattering of unitaries (and one county) in the mix as well. This means that the majority of committee system authorities would have been disappearing as a result of the local government reorganisation (LGR) process. This was kickstarted in December when the government announced it would invite councils in two-tier (district and county) areas to submit plans for their replacement by unitary authorities. But the Government’s announcement – which makes it clear that new unitary councils must adopt the cabinet system – raises some important questions for these, and other, authorities:
- For those committee system authorities undergoing LGR, will they be expected to move to the leader-cabinet system before being abolished, or will they be permitted to continue operating their current arrangements right up until the vesting day for new authorities – which for some may not arrive until 2029?
- What will be the expected timescale for change for other authorities? Will we see those councils taking the plunge next May – possibly in advance of the passage of the legislation? Or will they wait until legally required?
- Does it make a difference that several committee system authorities adopted that system as the result of a local governance referendum – in same cases very recently? How are councils expected to manage discontent from campaigners, and others, who may feel that this rides roughshod over the results of a public vote?
Supporting scrutiny and democratic accountability
ADSO has written to Jim McMahon asking for urgent clarification on a number of matters, including clarity on timelines, the need for formal, local consultation over changes, and a recommendation that funding for this change be provided to authorities, as it is a new burden. There is no doubt that councils on the committee system will need to think about how they will move to the cabinet system and what support they will require to do so.
There are other questions, too. Some authorities made the move back to the committee system arguing that it was a better way to involve more councillors in decision making, and therefore a more democratic system. This, some said, would deliver a greater level of scrutiny on the councils’ decision making. We can see from councils’ responses to the ministerial announcement that this concern will be front-and-centre of resistance to the move. The minister even chose in his announcement to remind Parliament that “the law already allows for and requires overview and scrutiny arrangements to be in place.”
We are thinking about how we can bring to bear our expertise around governance change to support councils to make a streamlined change, when they need to. And to understand how they can use the move to cabinet system to continue to improve democratic accountability and scrutiny of decision making. And we are keen to hear from councils about their thinking, and their concerns, so that we can use that insight to drive thinking at national level about how councils might be fully supported.
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